Incubator tub humidity?

[lance]

The egg crate needs to sit up on top of the substrate, you do not want any substrate touching the eggs

Personal opinion ...Those tubs are great for holding nuts and bolts and for hatchling racks but are horrible for holding in humidity without seal a meal, which is why I use locking lid tubs(I hate seal-a-meal).

As far as the substrate under the egg crate it should be sloppy wet, I add perlite and then water until it touches the bottom of the egg crate and that's it.

My tubs are sealed well enough to need a few tiny holes for ventilation and will hold water from start to finish without having to mess with the tubs. On rare occasion I've added a little water to top them off towards the end of the incubation period, but not much.

If you use those cheap tubs keep an eye on the water level and keep the substrate very wet.
I would also add a lot more water bottles, they help tremendously with stability.

They hatch in holes under ground that are probably as stable if not more stable than most peoples incubators

When you have 20k in eggs in your incubator you tend to want it to work perfect

What tubs do you use and can you show some pics of your tub setup and incubator?

thanks

Lance

[gilly]

The egg crate needs to sit up on top of the substrate, you do not want any substrate touching the eggs

When you have 20k in eggs in your incubator you tend to want it to work perfect

Have to ask : Been involved in BPs for only 2 years, but there seems to be a total change in egg tub prep. Used to be that it was highly recommended to place the eggs positioned as exactly as possible to how they were removed from the breeding tub and placed directly into the hatch rite, vermiculite, etc. and even to the point of putting them up to 25% "buried" in the substrate. Then.... introduced is the light diffuser crate and the variations of how to incorporate it into the tub set up.

Am I correct in thinking that the sole purpose of the wet substrate mix is only to provide and maintain as perfect a humidity level as possible and the light diffuser keeps the eggs away from direct contact with the substrate in order to avoid possible excess exposure to
moisture ( molding) ?

If that is the case.... do we only invest in hatch-rite vs. vermiculite because it holds humidity better or some other property ?

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

After watching a few video's from Mike Wilbank's, I'm much less concerned about how I'm prepping by tubs. Kinda hard to argue with his methodology.

[snakesRkewl]

Have to ask : Been involved in BPs for only 2 years, but there seems to be a total change in egg tub prep. Used to be that it was highly recommended to place the eggs positioned as exactly as possible to how they were removed from the breeding tub and placed directly into the hatch rite, vermiculite, etc. and even to the point of putting them up to 25% "buried" in the substrate. Then.... introduced is the light diffuser crate and the variations of how to incorporate it into the tub set up.

Am I correct in thinking that the sole purpose of the wet substrate mix is only to provide and maintain as perfect a humidity level as possible and the light diffuser keeps the eggs away from direct contact with the substrate in order to avoid possible excess exposure to
moisture ( molding) ?

If that is the case.... do we only invest in hatch-rite vs. vermiculite because it holds humidity better or some other property ?

Yes the substrates sole purpose is to provide humidity, nothing more.
It has changed things a lot by made things easier for noobies to pick up the incubation process.

I use perlite under the egg crate because it holds water, it's what it does best.
Hatchrite works "ok" if your prepared to add water to it at some point, something I rarely have to do with perlite.

[snakesRkewl]

After watching a few video's from Mike Wilbank's, I'm much less concerned about how I'm prepping by tubs. Kinda hard to argue with his methodology.

Old school incubation methods work, but I've seen more noobies mess it up with that technique than doing it the substrateless way, which is why it's so popular these days.

There's a lot of different ways to set up an incubation tub and you'll find that once people figure out a method that works they have a difficult time changing.

[JohnNJ]

I used non-locking Iris shoebox tubs with vermiculite/water and light diffusers. I put on press and seal and put them in the incubator. I did not touch them again until day 50 - no air holes or lifting the edge of the wrap during that whole time. On day 50 I took out the tubs and opened the plastic. Did that every two days until they pipped. Every single egg was pefect.

[snakesRkewl]

What tubs do you use and can you show some pics of your tub setup and incubator?

thanks

Lance

This is my small incubator ...


The heat tape is hidden behind the false wall in the back.
The fan on the bottom pulls air from the main area in the inc and pushes it up and across the heat tape behind the wall and the air escapes out the top hole.
The t-stat probe is up top going though the screen and into the back of the false wal and hangs by the heat tape.
I only incubated a few clutches in this inc this last season and it performed great except when my thermometer failed me and I incubated at a low temp costing me a clutch

I use 7qt sterilite locking lid tubs, they are no longer made but the newer 6 qt purple handled ones look like they'll work great.
1 1/2 to 2 inches of perlite, 2 pieces of egg crate(hard to see the bottom piece as it sunk in a bit), add water until it touches the bottom of the egg crates and that's it.
No measuring perlite or water amount, no worrying about being too moist or too dry, it just plain works.

We did this same false wall on our larger inc too and it performed excellent all season.
This is from 2011 before we altered the back and we were testing out different substrates and making sure the air flow was good ... These locking lid tubs work fantastic imo